Know any good poker games?

I always liked the split game of 7 card stud with highest spade in the hole. There would be a round of betting after the 7th card and then another after you declared. For the last hand of the night, we'd double the stakes and you had to win both to end the hand. People would bet like crazy to force others to fold and the pot could get really high.

 

In college and right after, I used to play in a regular Christmas night game. Everybody would be tired of hanging with their families and get together. Everybody was flush with Christmas card cash. We played just one game - Between The Sheets.

Everybody antes $1. First person gets dealt two cards. They're allowed to bet up to the pot. If the next card is between the two cards, that person wins whatever they bet. If it's outside those two cards, they put their bet into the pot. If the next card matches either of their first two, they have to double their bet and put it into the pot.

As the pot grew, you'd see people holding K-4 only betting $5 into a $250 pot because they were worried about having to put $250 or $500 into it if another K or 2 hit.

It was a stupid game, but perfect for a large party because there's no limit in the number of players you can have. But you'd see guys endorsing over checks from their grandparents after they'd lost big pots.

 

Had a gift card to Borders and picked this up a few months ago. Cheap, fits in your pocket and has lots of good games in it:

http://www.amazon.com/Little-Black-Book-Poker/dp/0880885734/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-9685263-4204441?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1192030978&sr=8-1

 

Both sound like variations on a new game I've been playing called Red Ass. You get three cards. A straight beats a flush. Three of a kind beats a straight and a straight flush beats all. (All based on the probability of getting those hands with only three cards ... much easier to get three of the same suit than three for a straight, for instance.)

Instead of dropping the cards, like in Guts, it goes around the table (clockwise starting with the player to the left of the dealer) and people decide "in" or "out." Everyone who stays in must match the pot if they lose. Winner drags the current pot. If only one player stays in, the deal changes hands.

We start with a dollar ante and believe it or not, the pots get pretty huge. Say you play with eight people, the first pot is $8. Then four people stay in, the next pot is $24. If three people stay in, the next pot is $48 and so on.

There are a few variations and the dealer gets to choose, but once the dealer chooses a game, it stays that way until the deal changes. You can play stud, buy a card (in which you may purchse a card for $1, but you must discard one of your cards before you see what you've drawn) or community card (there's one community card and everyone must decide in or out BEFORE it is flipped).

We've been playing it during football on Sundays and the first day we played, I won over $400 thanks largely to winning several pots that were worth $108. It gets pretty crazy.

 

That can be a painful, painful game. But, if you're looking for one that can generate a significant pot, this one will generally do that.

Elliotte, like the sound of Magic. Will proably give that a try this weekend.

One other game that generates some good sized action is 727.

You're dealt 2 cards--one down, one up. Faces are a 1/2 point, Aces 1 or 11, everything else face value. Split pot game where the idea is to get closest to 7 or 27. Dealer goes around and offers a card to anyone who wants one. Betting after each round and until no one takes acard.

Sweet game to catch a 3-4 or 2-5 and just milk the pot from the get go. Shitty game on the other hand if you're sitting with 7-K or 6-K against someone else with the 3-4. And does have the possibility for someone to sweep both ends of the pot with a 5-A-A.

 

Criss cross: High-low game: Everyone gets five cards and the dealer puts out a board of nine cards, face down, similar to a tic-tac-toe board.

Round of betting. Dealer flips left three cards. Round of betting. Dealer flips right three cards. Round of betting. Dealer flips middle cards.

Those remaining can play two cards from their hand and three from any row: vertical, horizontal or diagonal. Or they can use all five of their cards. Best high hand and best low hands split.

Once took down a HUGE pot when I had quad 10s in my hand when the top hand on the board was QUAD 9s.

 

Acey-Deucey here in SoCal. In college, we played this and a few others for hours.

Was down $350 one night when I went pot into an A-3 spread and an A came up. In one of the great turnarounds in poker history, ended the night UP nearly $400 between this game, 7-card no-peek and Guts.

That took care of my college tuition the following semester. ;D

And Elliotte, love lowball. Took down a great pot with that one night with the nuts: 2-3-4-5-7

 

Yeah we usually play that one every week, except we call it Acey-Ducey or In Between. After we've had a few beers and its screwed us over a few times, people start calling In Be-twat.

Another game we play is "The Black Jack Game," not really sure if there's an official name for it or not. Dealer puts in $1, everybody else 50-cents. Dealer deals black jack to everyone and himself. First person to the left bets on their hand out of the pot--if they win, they take the money out of the pot--if they lose, they put it in the pot. Dealer then deals another hand to himself and takes the next person on. It goes around the table once and whatever is left in the pot, the dealer wins. Everybody at the table deals one time around.

 

If you want to play a game that might end in suicide, this is the one most likely to do it. I've seen some crazy-ass pots in this game (called simply "Pot" in my circle). My favorite one was when we were away on some family thing and convinced my mom to play poker. My brother got screwed by hitting the goalpost, mom ended up winning, and my brother was like, "Well, I'd have to write you a check." We were all shocked when she said, "OK, go get your checkbook." I love my mom for that.

Also love Follow the Bitch, which Doc mentioned. Seven card, no peeky, and the card turned over after each queen becomes the wild card, so it's always changing.

 

The biggest "Between" pot I saw was around $1,700. I was dealt A-3. The entire room starts chanting "Pot, pot, pot."

I was the DD, so I'd been trying to keep track of face cards. Kind of card counting, I guess. I knew we were halfway through the deck and there were still two Aces in the deck. So I calmly announced $25. You'd thought I'd just announced it was time to kill a puppy. My next card was, you guessed it, an A.

Next round I took a chance when there was $800 in the pot and took it down.